


Sake, Bourbon, and Other Spirits

by HappyLeech



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Gen, Ghosts, Major Character Death happens before the story starts, Multi, characters with prosthetics, more tags and warnings to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-08-27 21:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8417917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyLeech/pseuds/HappyLeech
Summary: Watchpoint Gibraltar is a haven for Overwatch’s oddest– Genji, Winston, Tracer, the people who can’t integrate back to regular life after the fall. And it's not just the living that take solace in the old Watchpoint...Title by an anon, re: an ask box meme on tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

Everything started when Ana Amari returned to Overwatch and so, when asked, several members of the New ‘Watch blamed the entirety of events that later unfolded on her and the discovery she made at 9:13 AM in the dining hall.

* * *

Ana had just finished a mostly dry-eyed reunion with Fareeha, Reinhardt was valiantly trying to ignore her (and failing) and Torbjörn and Jesse were both keeping watch to make sure she wasn’t going to disappear on them again. Breakfast was mostly over when she walked into the dining hall on floor G, the only ones left in the room were Winston, who was sitting near the kitchen doors eating peanut butter out a jar with one hand, and whomever was on the other side washing dishes and chatting with Winston.

Gérard Lacroix was also sitting at one of the long tables, watching Winston eat, ignoring the blood that dripped down the side of his face, staining his pyjama collar and pooling on the floor under him. 

“—and Athena is going to have your head, Winston, once she realizes how much peanut butter you’ve had already today, mon ami. I might be dead, but even I know that’s not good for you.”

Any shocked comments that Ana may have made were then drowned out by the AI herself, Athena’s voice echoing though the dining hall. “Winston! Have you really had three jars of that already?”

The gorilla flinched at the beratement, then shrugged as he continued to eat it. “Athena, please. I’ve told you that I don’t need you to monitor my eating habits. I can take care of myself perfectly fine.”

As Winston and Athena continued their small stand-off, Ana slowly made her way to the table where Gérard was seated, taking a seat beside him, close, but not close enough to touch. He tore his gaze away from the argument to look at her, before smiling wide.

“Ana Amari…mon cher, you’ve gotten old!” he laughed, and Ana shook her head slightly in response.

“And you haven’t, Gérard,” she said quietly, watching as Winston finally pulled himself up off the ground to go sulk in his lab, leaving just her, the person in the kitchen who Ana strongly suspected was Lena from the laughter, and a dead man.

 

A dead man who was currently gaping at her.

 

Ana nearly laughed at the look on Gérard’s face, how he seemed absolutely startled and confused, if not for the large, still bleeding, hole in his head. “Close you mouth, you al'abalah, unless you want to be catching flies.”

“Ce que le baiser, Amari. You can see me?” the ghost hissed at her, and again Ana was struck with the urge to laugh. “You’re alive, though. You shouldn’t be able to see me at all!”

Again, Ana was interrupted from speaking, but this time by Lena exiting the kitchen, whistling to some tune of her own now that the radio’d been turned off.

“Ana! I didn’t know you were around, love-- I’d have made you something to eat if you’d asked,” she said, bounding over to the table. The sight of her made Ana acutely aware of exactly how old she was now, feeling almost exhausted just by looking at her.

“It’s fine, Lena. I’m not quite in the mood for food now, just looking for a quiet place to sit right now.”

“Where Jesse can’t lurk and glare at you like you’re going to go “poof!” and disappear?” Lena said with a grin, the tip of her tongue poking from between her teeth, and Ana laughed in reply. Well, from that and from how happy Gérard seemed to be from her presence.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere, so if he’d give me some space…” she griped, lifting a hand in a lazy wave as Lena finally exited the room with a laugh of her own. “...she’s a good woman, isn’t she.”

Gérard grumbled a little at the prodding-- Ana knew that he knew exactly what she was doing-- before nodding. “It’s like she never changed, really. Always speeding around, making everyone smile…”

 

With that, both ghost and human went silent, Ana’s, and no doubt Gérard’s, thoughts being drawn to Amélie. 

 

“I think that I can see you because I almost died,” Gérard started, and Ana could feel him watching her even with her missing eye. “I don’t wear this patch for fun-- Talon got to Amélie, and then she got to me. Took my eye and laid me up in the hospital for a year.”

She turned to face him, the pair of them with their almost matching wounds, before Gérard sighed, slumping down on the table. “That makes sense. It’ll be nice to have someone living to talk to now-- the others usually ignore me or don’t bother making small talk, and if Athena talks to me directly, someone’s going to think she has a virus.”

“The others? You mean you aren’t the only ghost?” Ana looked around, waiting to see if anyone else was going to walk through the walls and join the conversation. “Who else?”

“Well, a place like this is full of ghosts, Ana. I’m just one of the more willful ones. But you’re going to be working with a few of them too—they died in ways that are easier to hide.” he replied, like it was the obvious thing. “I think even the ineptest member of this new team would notice something up with me if I tried to join in on missions. The head wound is a dead giveaway.”

Ana frowned. “Gérard, that doesn’t answer my question, and now I’m even more curious. I’ll be working with some? Shouldn’t it be fairly obvious then?” Gérard only shrugged, and Ana sighed in frustration. “Athena, will you tell me?”

There was a moment—perhaps the AI was detangling herself from lecturing Winston again—before Athena answered. “Negative, Captain Amari. Unless I receive permission from those involved, I can not reveal the vital signs of the agents mentioned by Lacroix.”

“Hmph,” Ana frowned at Gérard, as Athena didn't have much to glare at. “Not my Fareeha though, Athena? Not my girl?”

Silence. Ana frowned and opened her mouth to ask again, worry starting to eat at her with each passing second, before Athena answered. “Captain Amari is in perfect health and her prosthetics are all in working order at the present time.”

Ana nodded to herself. “Good. That's… good.” To return from the ‘dead’ to find that her daughter had actually died…Ana shivered at the though.

“Captain Amari is also on her way here—she appeared to be worried when I asked permission to reveal her vitals to you, Captain Amari.”

“Call me Ana, Athena. Little Fareeha is the Captain now.” Ana could hear the tell-tale click of the speakers shutting off, letting her know that Athena was gone, and she turned to Gérard. “You can't keep this a secret from me now, Gérard. I want to know—Overwatch as a whole should know.”

He sighed. “I know you do, Capitaine. And I know they should. But at least one of them doesn't even really know that they're dead yet, and the others have their reasons.”

Ana winced. To not know that you were dead…she couldn’t imagine what that’d be like. “How many are there, then?” A safe question. One he could answer without giving anything away. 

“Let me see… 5. No—6, that other one is dead too.” He tapped his fingers in the blood that was slowly coating the table. “Unless I'm missing someone else, there's 5.”

“5…” Ana sighed. “So, you're saying that in a group of 20, more than a quarter of us are dead—ghosts.”

 

“Māmā? Mother, who are you talking to?” Ana flinched at the voice, cursing her old age. Fareeha’s legs were mechanical now and she still managed to sneak up on her. “Who's dead?”

“Alqaraf.” Ana sighed, ignoring the chuckles coming from Gerard as she turned in her seat to look at Fareeha. “Gérard Lacroix is the answer to both those questions.”

There was a beat, a pause, before Fareeha pressed one blue metal finger to her ear piece. “Angela? Could you come to the dining hall on floor G, please? Māmā is acting odd…”

“Good job, mon cher. Now they're going to think you're crazy,” Gérard laughed, and Ana smiled. 

“But Gérard, don't you think you should talk to more people? You did say you were lonely, so why don't you say hello to Fareeha?”

Fareeha in question was slowly sitting at the other side of the table, her face becoming more and more grave by the moment. Ana didn't blame her—to find your mother claiming to be talking to a man who'd been dead for 7 years… Ana could easily see why she’d called for Angela. 

“Do you really think it's wise, Ana? Some of them don't want to be found out…” Gérard said, even as his form slowly started to solidify. 

“I'm not going to go around accusing people—you and Athena won't tell and you have a good reason for it, so I'll leave it at that unless it becomes an issue.” Ana kicked him under the table, grinning as Gérard scowled at her, shooting her a profane hand gesture. 

“Athena…?” Fareeha looked up to the nearest speaker, looking to the AI for an answer.

“Doctor Zeigler is right outside the doors, Captain Amari.” The AI replied, completely ignoring the worry in her voice.

“I—thank you, Athena…” Ana snickered at Fareeha’s defeated tone, turning as the door to the dining hall opened. 

Angela Ziegler stepped though the door, took one look at the group in front of her, and screamed, stumbling backwards and practically tripping over her feet in an attempt to get away. As Angela fell back, Fareeha shot out of her seat, catching one foot on the bench and spinning in place to look at Ana.

“Gerard, if you’ve gotten blood on my hijab, I’m going to be very angry with you,” Ana said, before pulling herself up and out of her seat. “Angela, dear, are you alright?” 

Angela’s scream had attracted a few of the others, chiefly the two who were watching Ana like hawks, and even as Ana leaned down to help Angela up, Jesse and Torbjorn were both poking their heads into the dining hall, looking for the issue, hands hovering over their weapons.

“Lindholm! You vieux cuss, I never thought I’d see you in the flesh again.” Ana heard Gérard crow as she pulled a shaking Angela to her feet, dusting her shoulders off as if it was needed, before turning to watch the short Swede internally combust at the sight of a bloody, smiling, Gérard.

“Athena? Can I please get everyone into the dining hall on floor G, please?” Angela’s voice was strained, but she didn’t sound ready to scream again. Of course, that wasn’t the same for everyone, from the frantic swearing that she could hear coming from Jesse, or how Fareeha was leaving small dents in the door frame with her fingers.

“Well, I suppose we should go wait in the dining hall instead of cluttering up the doorway,” Ana said, turning from Angela to put a hand on Fareeha’s shoulder. “Come now, azizati, let’s go sit.”

* * *

Ana was the only one to sit at the table with Gérard, something that didn’t surprise her much. The man was bleeding rather heavily from his head wound, and it was easy to tell that she was the only one who felt comfortable around him as the others trickled in. 

First was Lucio, Hana, and Jamison, the three of them thick as thieves since joining the new Overwatch, and Ana was impressed when none of the three screamed at the sight. It made sense, however, as they’d joined after the assassination, and didn’t deal with the fallout from Amelie’s forced betrayal. 

“Gnarly!” was all Jamison said, before pulling Hana and Lúcio over to an empty bench. Lúcio looked a little nauseated, but he didn’t say anything as he slumped down over the table, looking dead tired. Hana simply popped her gum, gave Gérard a once over, then snorted.

“Your makeup game is weeeeeeak—seen scarier in a SBS drama,” she said, sliding in between Jamison and Lúcio, offering them both gum which they both accepted. 

The next group to arrive consisted of Roadhog, who took one look at Gérard before shrugging and taking up the rest of the bench beside Jamison, Reinhardt, who looked like he was five seconds from passing out from the shock as he sat next to a still-destressed Angela, Winston, who swore before dropping to sit on the ground near the kitchen, and Soldier 76, who took one look at Ana and Gérard before taking up position by the door. 

“I’m surprised Lena isn’t here already, she was usually the first into any meeting,” Gérard commented, and Winston gave him an odd look, as if debating if talking to the dead man was a good idea. 

“Winston sent her to procure the Shimada brothers, and well as Tekhartha Zenyatta. They should arrive shortly, Lacroix.” Athena answered for him, making the others all jump. “Agents Zarya, Mei-Ling, and Satya are one hallway from our position, and the Bastion unit received permission from myself to remain in the garden with Ganymede.”

“I believe the call was for all agents, Athena,” Winston said with a frown, and the AI made a noise that was close to a laugh, or maybe a snort.

“The Bastion unit has no need to come to this meeting, as it already knows about Larcoix, and needs no reintroduction.” The doors to the dining hall opened before anything more could be said, and Mei-Ling Zhou promptly burst into tears. 

Zarya and Satya seemed baffled and out of their depth once the waterworks started, and it was with a sigh that Ana stood and walked across the room to gather the smaller woman in a hug as the other two hurried to the table not occupied by Lúcio.

“There, there. I know, it’s a shock. Let’s sit down, okay?” she said, leading her to her table, sitting between her and Gérard. Mei continued to sob, leaning her head against Ana’s shoulder as she tried to force out a legible sentence in English, with Ana rubbing her back in what she hoped was a comforting manner. “She was rather upset when she learned what had happened to you,” she murmured to Gérard, and he nodded, but didn’t say anything. 

An uneasy silence descended on the room as Mei’s sobbing subsided and she collected herself, taking the tissues that Ana pulled from her pocket with a weak thank you, and it persisted until the doors opened for the final time. 

First in was Zenyatta, who gave the impression of surprise despite being nearly featureless at the sight of the bloody man to Ana’s right, choosing to sit at the third, empty table at the front of the room. Next was Genji and Hanzo, Hanzo looking pointedly anywhere but at Genji and Genji’s teacher, choosing to stand near where 76 was standing as he considered Gérard with a frown. Genji, however, moved to sit by his teacher’s side, and the fluxuation if his visor’s lights the only implication that he was startled by Gérard’s presence.

Last came Lena, who stepped into the room with a beaming smile, ready to ask what was going on as she turned to look at the room, before going completely still.

“Bonjour mon amour—“ was all that Gérard managed to get out, before Lena blinked, moving from the doorway to crashing into him with a wail in a second, arms tight around his neck as they both found themselves crashing onto the floor. 

“You, you, you BLOODY WANKER!” she sobbed, and Ana looked away from the reunion to the rest of the new Overwatch.

 

“So,” she said with a smile, “it appears that ghosts are real.”


	2. Chapter 2

The entire dining room erupted into noise at that simple statement, people talking and yelling over each other as Lena sat up, teary eyed and not at all bloody, still wrapped around Gerard.

 

Ana snorted at the sight.

 

“You melodramatic bastard,” she said with a grin, even as her arms tightened around Mei, who was still shaking. “That blood was all for show, wasn’t it.”

 

“Well, I’m not about to get blood on mon trésor, am I, Capitaine?” Gerard replied, all smiles now that the phantom blood on his face seemed to have disappeared. That only made Lena snort, and she smacked him in the shoulder.

 

“You bloody cock—how the fuck can I touch you, by the way? You’re dead, and I sure as hell ain’t,” she asked as he helped her to her feet, bouncing in place and shaking out her arms while Gerard watched with a soft smile.

 

“Well, it’s like the others—If I want to be seen, I’m seen. If I want to be touched or if I want to touch something, I’m solid enough. It’s all willpower, luck, and maybe just a little possession.”

 

That made everyone else in the room shut up, all eyes turning to Gerard.

 

“The…others?” Winston asked, and Gerard then turned to look at Ana.

 

“You can explain, can’t you, Capitaine?” he asked, and the bemused smile on her face dropped in an instant.

 

“For the love of-- fine. Lazy ass…Gerard said that we have six others here who are also ghosts. Including someone who doesn’t know they’re a ghost,” that made the chatter start again, andAna snorted, waving her hand in an attempt to get the others to quiet down. “Children! Behave! As I was saying, Gerard, Athena, and I’d assume Bastion also know who the dead are, but none of them are talking out of respect and privacy for those who are no longer living.”

 

“I bet Genji’s one of them!” Jesse yelled from his seat, and got a rather vicious elbow to his ribs from the man in question in return. “Oh, learn to take a joke.”

 

As Ana went silent and the chatter started again, Winston took the floor, pulling himself up and loping over to Ana, Gerard being monopolized by Lena and thus unavailable for questioning at the time. “You said…six, right? So, of the twenty…”

 

Ana nodded. “Yes, over a quarter of Overwatch is dead, and not moving on. So, what do you want to do about this?”

 

Winston sighed. “Well, I’d like to know who it is, but since no one is telling…If we find out who’s dead, we need to take a record. Just for our knowledge. And I’d like to know how this works…”

 

“Maybe Dr. Ziegler’s one of them,” Ana said, jokingly and without thinking. “After all, she has all the medical records, right? She’d know almost everything and be able to keep things hidden.”

 

Winston’s eyes widened, and he turned to Angela, who was leaning her head against Fareeha’s shoulder, taking shaky breaths. “I’ll ask her later—if anything, she’ll be able to give us an idea of who’s, uh, dead.”

 

He gave Mei a clumsy pat on the shoulder—the shorter scientist was still huddled against Ana’s side—and moved over to there 76 and Hanzo were standing.

 

“Do you want me to walk you back to your room?” Ana asked, and after a second, Mei nodded.

 

“T-thank you, Ana. I—it’s just a bit of a shock.” She whispered, taking Ana’s hand when she offered it.

 

“I’m just taking Mei to her room, no need to set Jesse or Torby on me,” she called to the room as they started to walk out, and Mei snickered quietly as Torbjörn took loud offense to the name.

 

“Some air should help clear your head too, Mei. It’s got to be a bit of a shock…” Ana sighed as they headed towards the living quarters, mapping out the fastest way to Mei’s room in her head. “I’m sure once I wind down, it’ll…it’ll hit me.”

 

In all truthfulness, it already was. She remembered Gerard’s funeral, the tears and speeches, the fight between Gabriel and Jack over who should take the blame for not realizing that Amelie was a sleeper agent… Ana shuddered, unconsciously pulling Mei closer.

 

“Ana, are you okay?” she looked down to where Mei was looking at her with sad eyes. “I—I’m sure Gerard wouldn’t want you to be sad, same with Jack and Gabriel.”

 

Something in Ana’s gut clenched at the mention of Gabriel, how he tried his best to shoot her in Egypt, but she didn't mention it to Mei. There was no need to worry her even more. They don’t talk for the rest of the walk, both caught up in their own thoughts, Ana assumed, and when they reached Mei’s room, the shorter woman grabbed Ana in a tight hug.

 

“Thank you, Ana,” she said, before stepping into her room and closing the door behind her.

 

Ana sighed, suddenly feeling very, very tired despite the time of day.

 

“Athena, could you tell Fareeha that I’ve retired to my room for a time?” she asked the AI, and didn’t listen for a response as she made her way to her room as well. It wouldn’t do anything good for her sleep schedule, to rest as soon as she was, but she’d always been a bit of a night owl.

 

* * *

 

The next time Ana awoke, it was nearly 5PM, and there was a grumpy, but not bloody, Gerard sitting on the foot of her bed, glaring down at her.

 

“Good evening, Gerard,” Ana said, blinking at him blearily. “I expected you to be with Lena, not me.”

 

“Well,” Gerard said, and Ana sighed knowing that this meant he was about to start griping. “You left with Mei-Ling, and what happens? I get sandwiched between Torby and Rein, fielding questions from the pair of them while my Lena got drawn away.  _ Then _ Angela and Winston cornered me to talk about ghosts and my abilities, so now I have a meeting with them both to go through some tests, which is ridiculous if I may say. And Miss. Song asked if it was possible to get a photo with me, which didn’t work, by the way. By the time I managed to get away from them all, both you and Lena were gone!”

 

Ana sat up, reaching for her eye patch and reading glasses, squinting at Gerard. “You are a ghost, are you not? You could have left at any time, Gerard.”

 

He gasped. “And be rude?  _ Never _ . Now, how much do you know about Miss Emily?”

 

Ana blinked. “Who?”

 

“Lena’s new belle—the therapist. I have heard of her, heard Lena talk about her in passing, but I haven’t met her yet. What about you, Capitaine?”

 

Ana crossed her legs under her blankets, adjusting her headscarf as Gerard leaned in closer. “I only just arrived, Gerard. How on earth would I have found time to gather the gossip about Lena’s new love?”

 

The ghost almost collapsed onto her legs in mock despair. “Because you are a socialite, my dear. Gossip finds it’s way to you and you hoard it so well one would think you were Blackwatch instead of Overwatch.”

 

“Well, be as that may, I don’t know anything about her girlfriend—this is the first I’ve heard of it. Don’t you go terrorizing her about it though—I’m sure Lena already feels some guilt, moving on and then finding out that you aren’t truly gone. Now, shoo. I’m going to get changed, and I don’t feel like giving you a free show,” Ana said, stretching out the kinks in her arms. “Would you tell the others I’m coming down, if they’re still at supper?”

 

“Is this what I revealed myself for? To become some kind of errand boy?” Gerard complained, leaving Ana laughing as she started to change.

 

* * *

 

Supper was almost finished by the time Ana returned to the dining hall, but there was still enough for her to eat and she settled in beside Fareeha and Angela to listen to the chatter.

 

“Everyone has been…lively since you and Mei left, Ana,” Angela said, picking at her rice. “Lots of wild guessing about the other ghosts, all speculation with no substance. And seeing as some of us are going on a mission early tomorrow…” The doctor gave Ana a pointed look, and Ana smiled behind her mug.

 

“If you want to blame anyone, blame Gerard. He’s the one who mentioned the others, otherwise I’d be content to keep him a secret,” Ana looked over to where he was sitting with Lena, and hoped that he wasn’t trying to not so stealthily dig up information about whoever Emily was. “You haven’t been pestered too thoroughly, have you? I joked to Winston that you’d be the one to know about everyone’s vitals, and I do hope he didn’t take me seriously.”

 

Angela sighed, pushing her half-eaten dinner away. “Once my team—our team, really, returns from our mission tomorrow, he wants to go through the records, look for anything off.” Fareeha snickered, and Angela focused on her. “I’m volunteering you to help us, Fareeha, so don’t you look so smug.”

 

Now Ana laughed, seeing how Fareeha’s face changed.

 

“What is the mission? I fear that I slept through the briefing,” Ana asked, and Angela sighed again.

 

“Winston believes that, with Satya’s assistance, he’s managed to find a warehouse that Vishkar is using to make deals with Talon—weaponry, information, we don’t know what they are trading. What we do know is that we are leaving early tomorrow to investigate, and the team is you, myself, Fareeha, 76, Jamison, and Mako. Jamison and Mako have both been approached by Talon before with job offers, so we will be using them to get close before striking. If all goes to plan, you and your sleeping darts will knock everyone out and we won’t have any casualties.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally got past some writers block with this fic so! Chapter 2~  
> Also I still can't believe that Ana Amari wasn't Blackwatch-- she's a goddamn sniper! (I need to work on that fic where her and Gabe and Jack all swap positions)  
> Also just let me put in my Emily headcanons and maybe my Athena ones too
> 
> * * *
> 
> Mon trésor – my treasure
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [Overwatch Tumblr](http://over-swatch.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Overwatch Tumblr](http://textsfromwatchpointgibraltar.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the [tumblr post](http://textsfromwatchpointgibraltar.tumblr.com/post/152015842218/fic-title-meme-sake-bourbon-and-other-spirits/) that created this (Spoilers on it though for who's dead! Read at your own peril)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Got all my translations from google, so please let me know if I mess something up!  
>  **Arabic**  
>  Al'abalah = idiot  
> Māmā = Mom  
> Alqaraf = shit  
> Azizati = dear  
>  **French**  
>  Mon ami = my friend  
> Mon cher = my dear  
> Ce que le baiser = what the fuck  
> Capitaine = Captain  
> Vieux = old  
> Bonjour mon amour = Hello my love
> 
> * * *
> 
> I hardcore headcanon Pharah with prosthetic legs and arms  
> Somewhere someone said that Ana wears a hijab so she wears one (Gerard did not get blood on it)  
> SBS is a Korean brodcasting company and Hana totally watches Running Man okay fight me  
> I think Hana, Lucio, and Jamison would be bros okay  
> (Is Tekhartha like zen's last name or a title or something am I just an idiot)  
> I'm too lazy to look up when Mei got frozen, but I'm going to say that she knew Gerard before he died, then when she got out of cryostasis she was devastated to hear he'd died.  
> Yes, I do think that the first thing Tracer would do if she saw the ghost of someone she knew (and loved) would be to tackle them while sobbing
> 
> * * *
> 
> **[Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [Overwatch Tumblr](http://over-swatch.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Overwatch Tumblr](http://textsfromwatchpointgibraltar.tumblr.com/)**


End file.
